Professor Steven Conn
Professor of History and Director of the Publich History Program at Ohio State University
Paper Title:
How to Look at China: The Structure of Visual Experience in American Museums
Steven Conn, is Professor of History and Director of the Public History Program at Ohio State University. Dr. Conn is an expert on Chinese art and artifacts in American museums. He is the author of Museums and American Intellectual Life, 1876-1926 (University of Chicago Press, 1998) and "Where is the East: Asian Objects in American Museums from Nathan Dunn to Charles Freer" Winterthur Portfolio (Fall, 2000).
Abstracts:
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries Americans had a great many opinions about China and the Chinese. These opinions ranged widely from abject disdain to grudging admiration to a more general fascination with the exotic and mysterious. They held these opinions, needless to say, without actually knowing very much about China or its people...